-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Re: [NABOKV-L] CHALLENGE: Nabokov and Olesha
Date:	Sat, 4 Jan 2014 10:35:18 -0600
From:	Jose Vergara <jvergara@wisc.edu>
To:	Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>

Just a quick technical note — this is actually part of one of Ivan Babichev's speeches. Best, Jose Vergara

On 01/04/14, Nabokv-L wrote: > > > > >

St. Petersburg Nabokov scholar Evgenii Belodubrovskii offers the following quotation from Yuri Olesha's Envy and calls for general discussion and more complete elaboration of the links between the Soviet writer Olesha and his admirer, Nabokov. > >

The quotation is from Kovalerov: > >

 ...многие характеры разыгрывали комедию старого мира. Занавес закрывается. Персонажи должны сбежаться к авансцене и пропеть последние куплеты. Я хочу быть посредником между ними и зрительным залом. Я буду дирижировать хором и последним уйду со сцены. > ...мне выпала честь провести последним парадом старинные человеческие страсти... > > ЮРИЙ ОЛЕША. РОМАН "Зависть" ( СЛОВА героя романа НИКОЛАЯ КАВАЛЕРОВА) > >

SB's rather hasty translation: > >

 ...many characters played out the comedy of the Old World. The curtain closes. The dramatis personae should all run up to the proscenium and sing the final couplets. I want to be the intermediary between them and the auditorium hall. I will be conductor of the chorus and will be the last to leave the stage. ...to me falls the honor of guiding ancient human passions on their final parade... > > > > > > > >